


absolutely fine

by MaddieandChimney



Series: Maddie Buckley Week 2020 [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25820608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney
Summary: Maddie Buckley Week Day 2 - “ah-ah-ah. You’re sick. You need to stay in bed.” + comfort.“Just saying, when God was giving the Buckley’s stubbornness, he gave it all to Maddie.”Buck is feeling quite smug that he's not the one who has to look after his very stubborn, very much in denial, sick sister.
Relationships: Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Series: Maddie Buckley Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861234
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	absolutely fine

Maddie is stubborn to a fault at the best of times but being sick seems to bring out the worst in her. Buck had learned that the hard way, having been on the receiving end of his sisters scathing tongue when she absolutely, unequivocally was _not_ sick. Which was why, when she starts coughing during a family meal at the station, he’s quick to look at her boyfriend and smirk because… well, she’s _his_ problem now.

“Good luck.” Is all he says, patting Chimney on the shoulder when he walks past him because it’s been five minutes and Maddie is still denying she doesn’t feel good (even though everyone in the room would easily agree that she hasn’t looked right since the moment she walked into the station). They’ve only been dating a month, and Buck is entirely certain that his friend and colleague is about to experience what he likes to call absolute _hell._

Chimney’s confusion is evident, only to be replaced by pure concern when he reaches out to gently rub his girlfriends back, only for her to flinch away because she is absolutely fine. Yeah, Buck has heard that one a million times before (he still remembers when fifteen year old Maddie absolutely insisted she was _fine_ and then fainted during cheerleading practice, breaking her collarbone in the process), so all he can do is smirk as he watches and waits.

As stubborn as Maddie is about one hundred percent not being sick, Chimney is about taking care of her. It’s just a case of which of them is going to win on the stand-off that has seemingly formed at the dinner table. Buck is impressed at the intensity of which she’s managing to hold herself back (usually by now, she’s calling him every possible name she can think of) thus far. But somehow, Chimney wins and Buck is only more than a little relieved to see his sister walking (dragging her feet) out of the station with her boyfriend.

“This could make them or break them.” He points out, an all-knowing smile on his face and a raised brow when he looks at the people he considers to be his family. “Just saying, when God was giving the Buckley’s stubbornness, he gave it _all_ to Maddie.”

.

Maddie is quiet the entire drive home, apart from the various coughing fits that leave Chimney diagnosing her with a nasty chest infection, probably made worse by the fact she’s been “fine” for days. He finds himself chatting away, nervous when he approaches the traffic lights that determines whether he’s going to be turning left towards his apartment or straight ahead to Maddie’s.

If she’s opposed to his left turn, she doesn’t say anything, her head leaning up against the window, her face pale and her eyes bloodshot. He wants to reach out a hand to hers but he refrains from doing so, remembering how she had mumbled when he tried to help her into the car that he was overreacting.

He’s just glad that by the time they pull up outside his apartment building, she seems to be relatively half-asleep which makes his job in caring for her a lot easier. Chimney has cared for stubborn patients before in the back of an ambulance, he’s had more than his fair share of people insisting they are absolutely fine (even if a bone sticking out of their arm says otherwise). But this was Maddie, _his_ Maddie and he can tell by the way she’s leaning into him ever so slightly and the tiny pout forming on her lips that she wants the comfort he’s so quick to offer but her insistence that she’s not sick starts to take over by the time they’ve reached his door.

“I think I must have swallowed my water the wrong way.” Maddie maintains, “Just tired. Not sick.”

Chimney can only smile at the woman he has already fallen in love with, sliding an arm around her waist as he guides her towards his bedroom. “If you’re just tired, you wouldn’t mind a nap then.”

He can see the pondering on her face for a moment before she slowly nods her head, “Only a little one. Got work later.” Yeah, Chimney thinks, already planning on phoning Sue the moment Maddie’s eyes are closed because she is absolutely not going into work, no matter how stubborn she tries to be. He doesn’t argue though, only forces a smile, feeling satisfied with his work when he settles her into the bed.

Good luck? He scoffs aloud when he closes the bedroom door, taking his phone out, he had no idea what the youngest Buckley sibling was talking about.

The paramedic finds out two hours later when he’s practically dragging Maddie back to bed for a _third_ time. “I told you I’m fine,” She pauses to cough, the phlegm coated, painful sound causing him to wine as he raises an eyebrow, “… didn’t have to call Sue. They need me.” She continues as though she hadn’t stopped in the first place. And wow, now he knows why Buck was looking at him in that way because now he’s exhausted as he (gently) throws her over his shoulder having found her trying to get her uniform on _again._

“I really don’t think you’re in any state to be answering 911 calls, do you?” Her pout and the glare settling on her face, followed by her silence when he (again, gently) throws her back into the bed, tells him everything he needs to know.

He feels like he’s winning until she swings her legs over the side of the bed once more and he lets out a frustrated groan, “Ah-ah-ah. You’re sick. You need to stay in bed.”

“I’m not—”

“You’re not sick, yeah, got that but why don’t you just appease me? Let me look after you, just this once?” He presses his hand against her forehead, trying not to grimace at the heat she’s giving off right then before she sighs, and finally, moves to lay back down.

“Fine, but only ‘cause you asked nicely.”

There’s an overwhelming relief, only matched with the smug satisfaction he feels knowing he can walk into work the next day and tell Buck that really, it wasn’t _that_ hard to look after a sick Maddie. Slowly, he brushes his fingers through her hair, smiling down at her when she looks up at him with those big, brown eyes, “You stay in bed, I’m going to make you my ma’s famous soup that always makes me feel better, then I’m going to run you a very nice, hot bath.”

At lease she relaxes beneath his touch, her eyes falling to a close as she lets out a sigh, “Mm, rub my back?”

“I’ll definitely rub your back.” He tries so hard not to grin, feeling as though he’s won the lottery because she’s relenting, opening his mouth to broach the subject of going to see a doctor before he quickly snaps it shut.

That can be tomorrow’s argument, for now, he’ll take the win.


End file.
